Text 4a

FISHING SHIPS

Many ships and boats have been designed to do par­ticular jobs. Refrigerator ships, tugboats, salvage ships, train ferries, icebreakers, oceanographic ships and of course fishing vessels of different types has become an inseparable part of the world fleets.

Fishing vessels range in size from small inshore fishing craft (motor-powered cobles) to large, freezer-factory ships, they differ in the supposed area of fishing (deep-sea, inshore and middle-water fishing) and the model of operating (trawlers, seiners, drift net vessels, whale factories, etc.).

In fish harbours and on seaways one can meet many small fishing vessels – trawlers. There are two types of trawlers: side and stern. The sizes of them are usually very different. The length of side trawlers is not more than 50-60 m and they have special equipment for side trawling. The stern trawlers rise and drop their trawl through the special stern slipway. A recently-built stern trawler is 73 m overall. Side trawlers have superstructure aft and stern ones have it in the middle of the hull or forward. The working deck of a large stern trawler can have an area of about 400-420 sq m which must be clear of all deck fittings, so that a full trawl may be spread out. The design of the modem fishing vessel incorporates a high, soft-nosed stem, well-flared bows, streamlined bridge and superstructure, a gantry and transom stern.

Such transom stern was first adopted by whale factory ships to haul their catch up to the deck for dissection.

The work here can be rather dangerous, because the main feature of fishing vessels is the necessity of crew work on the top deck, in storm weat

her including.

Pic. 12. A fishing trawler navigation mode

That is why, the achievement non-sweeping of a bow deck, which has by a consequence increasing all kinds of rolling and pitching, comes in the obvious contradiction with a safety of work on the aft trawl deck.

The stern fishing vessel described here must not be confused with the larger, stern fishing factory vessels which are used not only to catch fish, but also to process them. These ships have equipment to be­head, clean, and refrigerate the fish, concentrating on filleting and freezing all fish in their various species, and packing them in cartons ready for supplying to the customer.

The smaller boats usually return daily to catch the early market. The large craft are usually away from port three or four days, fishing the more distant grounds. The deep-sea fishermen experience many disadvantages. They are away from home for three weeks at a time and usually put to sea again after only 48 hours ashore, so that they cannot have much home life. Their hours and conditions of work are most arduous. Winter in the northern water is very rigorous. The fishermen endure bitter cold and face danger from stormy seas and drifting ice flows. With numbed hands, they gut the icy fish upon the heeling deck. Light floods down upon them from an overhead searchlight while all around are the freezing waters and seeming endlessness of the Arctic night. But this is their life and their livelihood. They go to bring the harvests of the Northern seas to help to feed their countrymen.

Deep-sea trawling has been called the toughest job in the world and nobody who has studied the hardships of the task will quarrel with the description.

Ex.7. Answer the questions:

1. How can you define a specialized vessel? 2. What kinds of fishing vessels can you name? 3. What two principles are they classified by? 4. What trawler is bigger: a side or a stern one? 5. What is the difference between them except their size? 6. What is included into the typical design of the modem fishing vessel? 7. Why can the work of a fisherman be rather dangerous? 8. Why is the achievement non-sweeping of a bow deck in the contradiction with a safety of work on the aft trawl deck? 9. What is the difference between the stern fishing vessel and the stern fishing factory vessel? 10. What disadvantages experienced by the deep-sea fishermen can you enlist?

Ex. 8. Agree or disagree with the following statements. Give grounds to your answer:

1. Fishing vessels include a wide range of ships: from the small to huge ones. 2. The trawler is one of biggest fishing vessels. 3. There are three types of trawlers: a side, a stern and a bow one. 4. The crew work on the top deck may be dangerous in storm weather. 5. The trawler design stern appeared due to whale factory ships. 6. Due to its design a trawler is free from any kind of rolling and pitching. 7. The stern fishing factory is a kind of the trawling stern fishing vessel. 8. All fish on board of the stern fishing factory is stored altogether and packed for customers only ashore. 9. The deep-sea fishermen work mainly in the southern seas. 10. Deep-sea trawling is one of the hardest toughest jobs in the world.

Ex. 9. Translate into English:

1. Специальные суда предназначены для выполнения определенного вида работы. 2. Моторные плоскодонные лодки относятся к внутреннему рыболовецкому флоту. 3. Тип рыболовецкого судна зависит от предполагаемого района ловли. 4. Кормовой стапель – это часть специального оборудования траулера. 5. Рабочая палуба кормового траулера должна быть свободна от надстроек, чтобы можно было полностью развернуть трал. 6. Транцевая корма была впервые применена на китобойных плавучих фабриках, чтобы поднимать улов на палубу. 7. Незаливаемость носовой палубы траулера противоречит безопасности работ на корме. 8. Плавучие рыболовецкие фабрики используются не только для ловли, но и обработки рыбы. 9. Суда, которые ловят рыбу на более удаленных площадках, обычно отсутствуют в порту несколько дней. 10. Тот, кто знает трудности этой работы, не будет оспаривать, что она одна из самых тяжелых в мире.

Ex. 10. Define the main topic and idea of the text, split it into the logical parts, and make up the plan of the text.

Ex. 11. Abstract the text.

Ex. 12. Read and translate the text: